Choices Who Needs Them?
by Vivio312
Summary: Hermione takes a minute to think over all the guys in her life. Yeah, right. As if it were that easy. Hermione OneShot. Warning: Some mature themes, nothing explicit


Sighing, Hermione collapsed onto her couch, burying her head in a pillow. First her mother, then her co-workers… Wouldn't it ever stop?

Earlier that week, she had met with her mother to catch up and eat lunch for the first time in months since Hermione had started working at the Ministry. Of course, she had to pry into Hermione's personal life as well as professional. That's what mothers did, apparently.

_Earlier that week…_

"_So, Hermione. Any cute boys at this job of yours?" she asked nonchalantly._

_Hermione choked on her sandwich. After a minute of struggling to regain her dignity, Hermione recovered enough to answer her. "No."_

"_What about those boys you used to hang around with at school? Harry and Ron? Are they still single?"_

"_Harry's dating my best friend, Ginny. You know, Ron's sister? You've met them before."_

"_And what about Ron?"_

"… _He's seeing someone else," Hermione sighed._

_Her mother raised an eyebrow at Hermione's downcast expression, but wisely chose not to continue the conversation. "So tell me more about your job."_

_Back to the present…_

Then her co-worker Jocelyn had cornered her in her office and demanded that she attend a party later that day, because she was being reclusive and working far harder than anyone was ever meant to. Hermione agreed to go, if only to get her off her back about not having any fun, but it had turned out that the party was for everyone. _Everyone_.

_At the party…_

"_Oh, Hermione! You look amazing!" Jocelyn squealed when she opened the door. She grabbed Hermione's arm and pulled her inside, where it seemed packed with people all moving and talking. Talking constantly, Jocelyn skillfully guided Hermione around the throngs of people to a (somewhat) empty room with a couch and a couple making out in the corner._

"_I didn't know you owned a dress!" Jocelyn pouted, looking Hermione up and down in satisfaction. Feeling somewhat self-conscious, Hermione started playing with a curl of her hair. She had dug out a light blue cocktail dress from the depths of her wardrobe and matched it with silver heels she had found. She had the inkling that Ginny had bought them for her, but she couldn't remember ever wearing them._

"_Okay, so you have to have fun. You don't look as if you know how to have fun, Hermione. Go out and flirt! There are plenty of guys out there that are single, and they _will_ notice you and they _will_ like you!" Jocelyn encouraged, smiling widely._

_After a few moments of silence, Jocelyn took her arm again and dragged her back into the crowd, deaf to Hermione's complaints._

"_Hey Blaise!" she yelled, and a tall, black man turned._

Blaise Zabini?

"_Jo! How are you? Who's this?" Blaise grinned and hugged Jocelyn, looking at Hermione._

"_This is Hermione. She works with me at the Ministry, and I convinced her to come tonight? Isn't this great?" Jocelyn smiled again._

_Blaise stared at Hermione as if he had never seen her. "Blimey… Hermione? I haven't seen you in ages!" he opened his arms and hugged her briefly. "How are Harry and the rest of your group doing?"_

"_Oh, they're fine. Busy with work, you know," Hermione grimaced._

"_I know! Blaise's been to loads of parties; he's probably bored of the entire thing now. Why don't you stick with Blaise and talk? Alright! Bye!" Jocelyn slipped away, leaving the pair alone._

_At least Blaise had the decency to look awkward. "Er, do you want to get a drink?" He motioned to the bar._

"_Sure." Where's the harm in that?_

_Back to the present…_

They had spent the next few hours drinking and talking, reminiscing about Hogwarts and recounting old tales. At one point, she remembered him laughing uncontrollably at one of her stories about Ron's obliviousness and innocence (Ron had found her tampons over the summer). Then he offered to take her home, but instead took her to his apartment where they had spent the night together.

That was the first time she had really let loose and stripped away her professional mask, letting the fun and wild side of her take over. She wasn't usually for mindless sex, but she needed release somehow and Blaise understood that. He also escorted her home, completely fine with the one-night stand.

Of course, the next day, Jocelyn seemed to know what happened. She wouldn't let it go, and finally Hermione confirmed her suspicions. Then Jocelyn went off on a tangent about available men and how great Blaise would be to Hermione and possible dates the two could get together. Hermione left in the middle of it to meet Ginny for lunch.

Then Ginny had started prying into Hermione's love life, asking about the relationship between Ron and her.

_Lunch with Ginny…_

"_What happened with you and my brother? You seemed fine for at least a couple months after you got together. Did he screw something up again?" Ginny growled at the thought._

"_No! No, it wasn't him Ginny. Well… It was both of us," Hermione confessed._

"_What happened?"_

"_You know how all of us got a flat together, right? Harry bought it and invited me and Ron to live with him. We both agreed, of course, but then work started and we started getting further and further apart. He and Harry had both wanted to become Aurors, so they both started down that path while I was trying to work for the rights of non-humans. So Harry and him stayed close while I got home later than them, left earlier, hardly seeing them at all. Ron didn't feel like our relationship was going anywhere, so he broke it off. I agreed with him, because I was far too tired to try and continue a relationship. He got back together with Lavender, I moved out because she was seriously irritating me with her squealing and girlishness, and we haven't really talked since then."_

"_Oh… Have you been with anyone since him?"_

"_Ginny!"_

"_Oh, come on! I want to know! Now spill!"_

"_Fine… There's been a couple guys, never really dating. I haven't had the time for a relationship, Ginny."_

"_Anyone I would know?"_

"… _Blaise," Hermione blushed._

"_You slept with Blaise?!" Ginny screeched, immediately making their table the focus of the room._

"_It was at a party and we were both drunk. Okay? Nothing more."_

"_Nothing more?! I never thought I'd see the day Hermione Granger didn't think that sex was a big deal," Ginny snorted in disbelief. "Thought you'd be more of the long-term relationship type, not mindless one-night stands."_

"_We've all changed, Ginny. I'm no longer the shy bookworm I once was. Speaking of change… How's Harry?" Hermione changed the subject, leaning across the table in interest._

"_Well… He's been an absolutely amazing boyfriend. Oh! He invited me to that Ministry ball Friday night. Are you going? You should go with Blaise," Ginny waggled her eyebrows suggestively._

"_No… I was thinking of staying home…"_

"_No! Hermione, stop being so antisocial!"_

_Back to the present…_

Ginny had extracted a promise from Hermione somehow, and Hermione was resigned to the fact that she would have to go to the ball. The only problem was the date. Ginny, Jocelyn, and her mother all expected her to go with someone. Apparently, the trio had been in contact.

Groaning, Hermione rolled to the floor, hugging the pillow she had earlier used to bury her head in. She didn't have any guys that would ask her. She was reclusive, antisocial, as she had been told. No guy would want to date a work-crazy, tired woman such as her. Admittedly, she felt she could hold up a relationship now, her working hours much more manageable after she had been promoted, but the fact remained: there was no one she was interested in.

Harry was out, for obvious reasons. Even if she were able to think of him as something other than her best friend (which would be asking a _lot_), he was still dating Ginny. She was happy for the couple, but it didn't exactly help her problem.

Ron wasn't even an option, with Lavender hanging off his neck wherever he went. Plus, she would never be able to forgive him for giving up on her like that, especially since he had been so inconsistent in his loyalties during their schooling.

Neville would have worked, if he weren't off searching for an elusive plant somewhere in the Far East with Luna. Sure, Luna and him were going out, but he liked accompanying her to parties and catching up with current events. Luna never minded, either. Sometimes, she would force him to ask her, because she wanted to surprise him with something or another when he got back. But she didn't want to bother the pair. Since Neville had taken over Professor Sprout's position as the Herbology teacher, and Luna got a job researching new, undiscovered animals around the world, they had rarely had any time together. This expedition was their vacation, and Hermione would appreciate that.

Blaise was out. Hermione didn't feel like becoming attached to him, because all she could see on that path was endless nights together, but no emotional bond. It would also be fairly hard to explain that she wanted to go on a date with him after she had explicitly said the opposite the morning after.

_Who else was there…? Draco. Maybe? Seamus? Fred or George? Oliver?_

Draco Malfoy. The most irritating git at Hogwarts had turned out to be a valuable friend once they formed an uneasy truce after the Battle of Hogwarts. He worked at the Ministry, in the Department of Mysteries. Even with all the strange rumors surrounding the Unspeakables, he became the joking, charming friend he never was to them. Draco would go with her, wouldn't complain. But, based on the habit she was becoming fond of, she'd end up sleeping with him, which might damage their friendship.

Seamus was with Dean, travelling across America. She wasn't about to interrupt their 'bonding' time. Everyone knew except them. How long would it take them to figure it out?

Fred wouldn't work. He'd never be able to stay serious through the entire thing, and somehow figure out how to set off fireworks inside the Ministry advertising their joke shop. George would too. Come to think of it, they'd both figure out how to sneak in the other, then cause havoc that Hermione would have to clean up after. She wasn't in the mood for that.

Oliver had finally made Keeper for Puddlemere United, and the team was well on their way to a winning season. He had asked her out about a year ago at a party, confessing that he had always thought she was pretty but the age gap had prevented him from doing anything about that. They ended up sleeping together for a couple days, acting as a couple that week, until she had to leave for home. They both realized that they'd never work together long-term, but he promised that he'd always be there for her.

Hermione groaned again, repeatedly smacking her face with the pillow. This shouldn't be so hard. Thinking hard, she reviewed the men she had covered, and growled in frustration.

"Screw it, I'm going with Malfoy."


End file.
